I took my 3 year old in for his 1st dental visit about 3 months ago. To my surprise he had 3 small cavities on his top front teeth. The dentist says he only sees cavities in this particular location when the child is a night time juice drinker. Well sure enough my child drank juice at night. The dentist wanted to try to hold off filling the cavities as long as possible so he would not have to sedate my little boy. I'm supposed to bring him back in March for a follow up and to see if the cavities have grown. Obviously we have cut out the night time juice. When I was brushing his teeth last night he kept saying ouch each time I would brush one of the front teeth. I'm afraid the cavities have gotten bigger and we are not going to be able to put this off. I'm also terrified of him getting sedation. Has anyone been throught this? What was your experience? Are there any other options?

Hello, my son had the exact same problem at the exact same age for the same reason. His dentist said said milk can also do it so give nothing but water after night time brushing of teeth. Also, I wouldn't wait. Was this a pediatric dentist? Waiting can effect the second teeth. I also didn't want to sedate my son and neither did the dentist! His dentist was great, she was able to do the fillings with no sedation or shots. It was over quickly and he did great. The longer you wait the deeper the cavities will get and that will just cause more pain. Can you get another opinion from a pediatric dentist? Even if the first one was, I can't imagine telling you to wait.
I took my son to another who wanted to give him gas, I said absolutley not! Do you give it to adults? No they don't and it doesn't take the pain away it just makes your child go into la la land for the benefit of the dentist. You can find one that isn't so lazy!
One more thing- I also called my pediatrician and she said that IF sedation was necassery it was to be done in a hospital NOT the dentists office so that if anything went wrong he would be in a hospital where they are equipped to deal with such emergencys. It was hearbreaking to my son cry when they first started to drill but honestly it was about 2 seconds of crying and then he was fine! Better than I was!

My son had to have 7 teeth removed because of the nighttime juice thing, and i felt like such a bad mom for not stopping the juice sooner, but hey, these things happen.
Anyways, i am not sure how it is in the USA, but from where i live, my son was put under for the procedure, at the dentist's office. THe dentist was a pediatric dentist, and he had an anesthesiologist there who was also an internist, so that if anything did go wrong, all the equipment and knowledge was there. Thank god nothing went wrong though. Unfortunately for me, i was unable to go with my son to the dentist's, so my parents had to take him, and i am actually very happy for that, because i am normally a calm person, but i would not have been through that.
But, the moral behind this post...lol....is that the previous poster is right when they mentioned that not having the teeth fixed soon enough can affect the second set of teeth that come in.
Another thing too, and that my son's dentist mentioned, is that baby teeth do not have roots attached to them, so the child does not feel if he has a cavity or needs say a root canal for instance, until the second set of teeth come in. That is the honest to goodness truth, you can ask any dentist or read any article regarding that and it will say that...
At any rate, although it is awful to see your little one need dental work, it is a fact of life.

My niece had to get 4 of her teeth capped when she was 2 1/2. She was sedated at our local Children's Hospital. It really wasn't that big of a deal. They don't use IV's, they use the masks. I would rather a child be sedated than be scared of the dentist for a long time.

As someone who was severely traumatized by dental work done on me as a child (I fell and broke my front teeth), I urge you to use sedation and do not leave your child's side when you get his teeth fixed. The dentist I went to insisted that the parents not be present, and then performed a root canal without anesthetic with me screaming the whole time. I have had a very hard time having dental work done since (and I'm nearly 30). The dentist I see now had heard of this PEDIATRIC dentist and asked "Why do you think he's a pediatric dentist? Adults wouldn't put up with that sort of thing." It's much easier to take care of things earlier, just make sure your son is treated in a respectful and pain free manner.